In Chaos, There is Opportunity
by Ashindras
Summary: Chaos is a wonderful thing. We try to bring order to the world, we set laws, orders, but chaos still thrives because every action produces something new, everything changes with a simple breath. So what would happen if an action of the past was changed, what could we find in such a change? Opportunity. Slight AU and Male OC main.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Just thought I'd write something here, watching the new season got me pumped up about the series again, and decided to put this idea I've had for a while down on paper, or rather screen.**

**Anyway, read it, if you like it, leave a review, if you don't, give me some constructive criticism. Either way, tell me your thoughts.**

**Enjoy.**

Prologue

Chapter 1 – Welcome to Beacon

Chaos Theory.

Everyone has heard of it at least once. Whether through study or entertainment, we all have a slight idea, but never ventured too far into the abyss of the complex equations and innumerable formulae that it held. But behind all those equations, all that madness and incomprehensible formulae, there is a single idea.

The idea that everything is determined by the conditions leading up to it.

Even now, the world is turning, the actions people are taking are moving it in a completely different direction from what it was just a second before, and those actions will continue to shape the world for thousands of years to come; just as we are shaped by the actions of those who lived thousands of years ago.

Everything is important, no matter how small; even a flap of a butterfly can cause a tornado after all.

But what would happen if something was changed? Even if it was just something small, almost insignificant, what would the world have become?

What if a man decided to head right at a the path's junction instead of left as the sign had said, would he have met a beautiful woman in a tower?

Or if a husband and wife decided to have another glass of wine before bed, would their child be a girl instead of a boy?

Or if a man hadn't forgotten his keys as he left the door, would he have run the red light on his way to work?

Or perhaps a girl hadn't stayed up late the night before, would she have been late to school and been walking across the road as a man ran the light?

Or perhaps….. perhaps a man said five instead of four? How would the world change from something like that? How would the lives of its inhabitants be different?

Well, as the saying goes; In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity.

####

And one such soul who might be able to reach such an opportunity could be found on board an airship. Sleeping on the long seats that bordered the aisles below giant glass windows which showed the view over the city of Vale, one that many would call out as beautiful, amazing even, or,

"I can see signal academy from here!"

Or that.

The shout of a girl resounded as she pressed her face against the window in glee at the sight. She was a petite girl with black hair and red highlights. She still held immature features, even though everyone on the ship was still in their teens, she stood out so much that one could question if she was even old enough to be on the airship. She wore black, goth-like clothing with a black dress, tights and boots. But the most eye catching thing about her attire wouldn't be any of that, but rather the blood red cloak which fluttered behind her as she walked.

"I guess home isn't too far after all." She squeezed out quietly, even with her voice lowered to a whisper, it didn't go unnoticed by the blond who stood beside her and placed an arm over her shoulder.

In contrast to the red-cloaked girl, the blond wore bright clothing, albeit with a lot more skin exposure, wearing short shorts, a tight jacket zipped halfway up which emphasized her breasts. She also wore metallic, golden gauntlets, matching her long messy blond hair in colour. Taking it all in, she was dangerous…in more ways than one.

But she wasn't the only one who had some form of weapon, a closer look around and almost everyone seems to be carrying one, like the boy who was equipped with some sort of flaming sword, or the girl with an incredibly large rocket launcher on her back, hell, even the yo-yos someone was playing with in the corner had a dangerous glint to them. And the red-cloaked girl also had some form of rectangular metal on her back. It was to the extent that you wonder if they were child soldiers.

And you wouldn't be far off.

You see, each and everyone one of these kids were students, or at least they would be in a few days, enrolled in one of the four great huntsmen academies. Huntsmen were warriors whose duty was to protect the peace and fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves, while their main duties ranged from fighting the soulless monsters that were the enemies of the world, they may also take on less extravagant duties, ranging from catching a purse snatcher, working as security on big events, hell, some may even help you find your missing cat. And the Academies that could be found around the world helped raise such warriors. But the faces of everyone present held no hint of despair at having their life on the line, but rather brimmed with hope, with their determination, their courage to stand up to the injustice of the world.

But that doesn't mean they weren't nervous, the tone of the girl from earlier clearly conveying her nervousness. And she wasn't the only one, as a blond boy ran towards the nearest trashcan before his 'nervousness' overflowed, sadly he failed in his attempt however resulting in him spilling the contents of his breakfast onto the airship floor.

Evidently he had some homemade egg and onion sandwiches, unfortunate for the Faunus onboard as they covered their nose, along with a bow wearing girl who had been reading in the corner and a black haired boy who had been asleep until now, having been woken up by the smell.

"Ew, Yang gross, you have puke on your shoe!" While disgusting however, he seemed to have managed to knock away the nerves of a few, especially the red cloak wearing girl.

"Grossgrossgrossgrossgrossgrossgrossgrossgross!" The blond, named Yang, had been too distracted to watch were she stepped as the ship began landing and didn't notice the closeness of the boy, to her shoes dismay. The thought that would come to anyone's mind in such a scenario would to wipe it on the closest thing to them, sadly for the red-cloaked girl, it was her.

"Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" She cried as she dodged the blondes attempts.

###

After 10 minutes of the ship landing, the students had piled at the door, A familiar blond hair being the first to leave as his nerves don't seemed to have calmed down yet, or perhaps at this stage it might not be nerves that's got him; flying sickness is quite common after all.

Naturally, a few familiar faces leave through the furthest point from him, such as a bow-wearing girl and a black haired boy, who exchanged a brief glance at one another in understanding at both purposefully leaving through the most packed doorway even though there was another with hardly anyone using. Human or faunus, the smell was just that bad.

"Finally, some fresh air!" The black haired boy shouted as he finally got through the stampede, taking exaggerated breaths as if it was his first time breathing.

Looking at the boy closely, he was quite tall, being roughly 6'1". His black hair was long, reaching just above his eyes and untamed, but rather than seeming messy, it gave him a wild charm, coupled with a grin which showed off his white teeth and sharp canines, he was rather handsome, as some passing students noticed. His sharp, golden eyes, contrasting nicely with his hair, looked like two stars alone in the night sky. He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a midnight blue sleeveless utility jacket which hugged his torso tightly showing off his slim yet muscular build. He wore slim fitting cargo pants and black combat boots. He had a pair of gauntlets which were primarily dark blue, with some black to a lesser degree. They covered the outer part of his forearm and the back of his hand, with a matching set of shin guards which also covered the top of his boots. While normally something so simple would fade into the background, especially with the unique equipment of his peers, they seemed to stand out even more as unlike everyone else, he was lacking a weapon, and while there are quite a few people with gauntlets that could transform into or act as weapons, his couldn't, hence a few confused gazes coming his way from those who would label themselves as a weapons fanatic.

"How destructive, Faunus sense of smell or not, that just wasn't right." But, as if naturally, he ignored the gazes of others and exclaimed to himself, having finally rid his nose of the smell that polluted them.

"I guess humans and Faunus have something in common." At first, the sudden voice startled the boy, as he didn't realise he actually spoke aloud, but quickly realising it was the bow wearing girl from before, he replied with a wide grin,

"Yeah, we both hate the smell." Before laughing at his own joke, accompanied by the light chuckling of the bow girl. She was wearing a black and white outfit with purplish tights and white shorts, and of course, a black bow on top of her black hair which was quickly becoming her signature.

"So, I'm…."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh?"

As they tried to continue their conversation, they were quickly interrupted by the shouting of a girl falling from the sky, anyone with keen eyesight could see the fear in her face, as well as snot and tears being blown away by the wind, a truly regrettable appearance, but considering how she was falling from the sky screaming at the top of her lungs, I doubt many people noticed.

"Fufu."

Well, most people, as the boy let out a muffled chuckle while his eyes trailed towards the ground to see where she would land. Unlike before, keen eyes weren't needed to see the dust being scattered across the air by a girl fully clad in white as she waved a vial of dust towards a red-cloaked girl.

'Their aura should hold.' He thought as he waited for;

BOOM!

That which was the obvious outcome for anyone who knew anything about dust and how combustive it was. And, as he walked over casually, each step accompanied by the background music, or rather screams of a falling girl, a now empty vial rolled past him due to the blast.

'For a first day, there's definitely a lot going on.' He thought as he smiled, placing both arms out in front of him as he reached the two girls.

"What are you doing?" Was the thought of them both, voiced out by the lighter shaded of the two. Naturally, this was a normal thought to have when someone extends both arms out after walking up to you. And naturally, you would believe them to be in need of an instant check-in to the nearest mental institution, as no matter who you were, no matter you're background, you would never actually conclude that they were going to catch a falling girl from the sky. Now a normal person might have heard the screams, or have heard him reply something about looking up, but a normal person wouldn't have had their hearing slightly disorientated after surviving an explosion by dust. So naturally, when such a thing was true,

"HUUUHHHH!" The two girls shouted, both voicing their confusion at the same time as a girl landed in the extended arms of the boy right in front of them.

"She's out for the count."

At some point during the flight, it seems the passenger dozed off, I mean, at some point during the fall, it seems the girl had passed out. Her hair sticking up and out at odd angles due to the wind, and her clothing dishevelled to an extreme, a truly regrettable appearence. Falling out of the sky had that effect on people when they thought they were going to die, especially when any hope of living leaves you when your fall destination explodes.

"Unbelievable!" The walking snowman exclaimed as she managed to find her voice after the bizarre event, "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, you sent this poor girl shooting into the air with your recklessness!"

It seemed she believed that the girl had been near them when they exploded and had been sent flying into the sky, not noticing her falling beforehand it was a reasonable assumption.

"Uh…I'm really, really sorry." It seems the redhead also believed such a thing.

"Sorry? Do you have any idea what could have happened if he hadn't caught her?!" The snowball kept shouting, it seemed she fully put the blame on the opposing party, a useful skill; no doubt she would make a skilled politician when she grew up.

"Ah…well." With the red cloaked girl twisting the tips of her index fingers together as she tried to put words together, it's clear she lacked such skills, feeling bad for what she did.

"And what are you even doing here, aren't you a little young to be here? Are you even allowed this far away from home without a guardian?" The white dressed girl went in for the final kill, her attitude was gradually getting on the nerves of the boy who just stood back and watched it all unfold, but before he spoke up,

"Hey! I said I was sorry, princess!" It seems she also got on the nerves of the red cloaked girl.

"It's heiress actually." As bow girl made her entrance, her calm voice was a beautiful contrast to the bickering of the two. "Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition." The now named Weiss seemed pleased as she smiled smugly as the bow girl stroked her ego.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labour forces and questionable business partners." The amber eyed girl continued as she savagely teared down what she had just built up, resulting in a chuckle from the by as he spoke,

"Basically a bunch of assholes led by a bastard." He chuckled loudly.

"Wha…How dare…The nerve of…. Ugh!" The heiress storms off, grabbing the vial from the bow girl in the process.

"Do you know where the infirmary is?" The boy asks, remembering the girl now unconscious in his arms, and thinking he shouldn't just leave her on the ground.

"Yeah it's this way I'll show you." Luckily, it seems the bow wearing girl knows a bit about the school layout, leading the way. As they leave the scene, after having watched the irritable heiress storm off, the red cloaked girl turns around to introduce herself to the two who came to her rescue, only to watch them already leaving as well.

"Haaaahhh." She sighs, as she collapses to the ground, "Welcome to Beacon."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – How Regrettable

The way to the infirmary was long, but not uneventful for the two. The boy, who introduced himself as Noctis, had quickly found out the delicate laughter of the girl when they first met was a rare occurrence, as both her voice and expression seemed flat, emotionless even.

While the girl, who introduced herself as Blake, had realised that the wolfish grin on his face of when they first met was an ever-present expression, albeit with less intensity than before. But coupled with his light-hearted atmosphere, he appeared to be the complete opposite to herself, although even with his seemingly lively demeanour, he wasn't hyper, calmly following her as she led him to the infirmary. Even when the conversation slowly drifted into silence, whether it was because of their personalities or the way their mind works, neither found it unpleasant.

But it didn't last long as the figure of Blake, who even now as she led the way, was still reading her book, had naturally gained the boy's interest as he asked about its contents.

"It's about a man with two souls, each one vying for control over his body."

"….fu…gen…..sky….peace….of….chit…." The mumbling of the unconscious girl in his arms was dutifully ignored as he replied,

"Oh? Which one succeeds?"

Blake on the other hand, had her attention sway to look at the drooling face of the girl, she couldn't help but think of the girl's appearance as regrettable, but it wasn't for long as she answered his question, rather pleased that someone else found the concept of the book interesting, even if his interests differed from her own.

"Neither, they learn to live together with one another, creating a stronger whole than they ever could have separately."

"Hahah….Is that so. You'll have to let me read it sometime, I'd love to see how they do it." Perhaps not totally different from her own.

Before she could delve any deeper into the topic however, it seemed they had finally reached so the infirmary, and had to parted ways, with Blake continuing to the Auditorium alone as Noctis had stayed behind to answer the doctors questions about the girl, in no way was it to skip out in the boring speeches that is common with these kind of things.

"I'll keep this brief…"

Absolutely not.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy…."

'Maybe' she thought to herself as she listened to the so-called 'brief' speech.

###

'Where am I?'

As a genderless figure opened their eyes, all they could see was black; as if staring into a black hole. It was to the point that they wondered if their eyes were even open.

'Is anyone there?' While their eyes were indeed working, the mouth refused to move, their words drifting away as mere thoughts in the darkness.

They tried to walk forward, but it felt as if their feet were dangling in the air, connecting with nothing, it felt like trying to stand when submerged in a pool of water, but even with their efforts continuing to be fruitless endeavours, they continued to try and walk forward.

Each stride brought more weight on their limbs, each 'step' taking more and more energy. But even then, they continued, and even if they were not moving a single inch, their actions slowly but surely rewarded them. As with every step that was heavier than before, the darkness slowly lifted, with each trying movement, light slowly blossomed. And after what felt like forever, it had even lightened enough to the point they could see mist in the distance.

"Am I…." A voice leaked out, it croaked as it welled with emotion, but before they could finish the morbid thought, they shouted, "Who's there!" as they turned around. Although nothing had moved, the figure would swear they heard shuffling behind them.

But even when nothing had moved, when the figure turned behind them, they could see another, just like themselves, standing in this endless expanse of nothing.

"Is that….me?" The figure spoke as they recognised the other now standing in front of them. After all, you would never forget your own face, it's something you've lived with your whole life even if a few things were different; you would always recognize it, even if, like now for instance, it held an expression you've never seen it make. A deep scowl seething with irritation now adorned the face they thought they knew.

The figure stood at roughly 5ft7, but the long black hair was now coloured purple, with straight bangs and the back tied into a ponytail. It also had been more in-shape, unlike being overweight like they were before, this new figure seemed to have a well-trained physique, and what was once dull, garden weed green eyes now shone like the vibrant green of a forest filled with life.

"Even the breasts…" Muttered the formless figure who couldn't help but lament at how well off this other version of themselves seemed to be, even thinking the irritated look they held was one of shame, something the figure couldn't deny it was as it took in the, by all rights, beautiful girl that stood in front of it. Naturally the height was the same, and while their breasts were bigger when they were overweight, it was obvious that they were more shapely now. The bright green skirt and white short sleeved shirt and purple short sleeved button up cardigan proved as much as they showed them off, and the knee high boots couldn't hide her shapely legs. All in all, even if they were nothing but a figureless blob now, they felt inferior to this version of in every way.

"Hmph." As if in response to the figures worthless thoughts, a derisive interjection brought the figure back to the girl as she turned and began walking away.

"Ah…Wait!" Extending a hand they tried to rush out to stop them, but it proved no use, the figure still feeling too heavy to properly move. But as the girl ran away, it slowly flashed, a small light in the distance rapidly approaching as it painted the whole expanse in its bright light.

"Come back!"

###

"And she just fell from the sky?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened."

"As if from nowhere?"

"That's right."

"I heard an explosion, are you sure it had nothing to do with it?"

"I'm sure."

Inside of a small office, a room barely wide enough to sit a desk, never mind two people, sat Noctis as he was questioned, or rather interrogated by the doctor who continued to scribble something down so quickly you'd think he was aiming for a record. He had been here for the last half an hour, at first, the doctor only wanted to know one or two things, but then with every answer he gave, the doctor found another question. It was slowly becoming more and more annoying, so much so that he was debating just walking out, he didn't stay here just to be irritated by the person who's meant to help people.

"And you're sure you didn't see her fall out of anything?"

"Uh uh"

"And you brought her straight here?"

"Uh huh."

As he got more and more irritated, he just decided to ignore the doctor for the most part, placing his hands behind his head as he leaned back, it got to the point where he didn't even answer in proper words.

"So you…."

"Come back!" Suddenly, just outside the room, the girl he had brought back shot up in her bed, her long purple hair sticking to her face from sweat. Perhaps seeing such a thing in the reflection of the window, as the doctor rushed in followed slowly by Noctis, she was looking at it with a confused and shocked expression.

"Miss."

She was so entranced, she didn't even hear the doctor when he tried getting her attention.

"Young Miss!" Until he shouted, causing her to jump off the bed, a regrettable reaction.

"Uh..Sorr….Guebleh?!" As she pulled herself up using the bed, bright green eyes met gold before drifting up and down as she slumped back below the bed, letting out an odd scream as she did.

While she had most likely hoped she was hidden, her actions were clearly visible, even from the other side of the bed, both Noctis and the doctor could see her patting down her clothes and trying to wipe the hairs out of her mouth.

"Are you…alright? You aren't feeling….stranger, than normal?" The doctor asked as the girl stood up and cleared her throat, trying to wipe away the regrettable image from before.

"I'm quite fine, no I feel splendid, thank you for making sure I was alright." Unfortunately she failed as the back of her rather than helping hold her hair, a hair bobble seemed to hold her hair in an old position, like a birds nest.

"Ah well, it was this young man who actually saved you, but do you remember your name?"

"Iris Blume." With an assured and strong tone she replied before the doctor even finished. "Wait, did I say that?" But unfortunately the strong tone was lost in her second sentence.

"Iris…is it? I'll have to make a call, I'll be right back." The doctor says unsure as he slowly backs out of the room.

"You saved me? Thank you; I don't know what would have happened without you." With a deeper bow and a more sweet tone, she thanked the boy, grabbing the hem of her skirt as she slightly blushed, anyone who has ever read a romance manga would say it was the perfect form of the blushing heroine, and as such, even Noctis couldn't help but feel put off by it.

"Don't worry about it." So he nonchalantly replied, as if he had just caught a falling leaf, you wouldn't care about the leaf thanking you, would you? Even if he felt that the girl's actions were somewhat genuine as he could hear the rapid heart beating from here, his reply could only give off the impression his actions were done on a whim.

"I…see." Truly regrettable. "But thank you none the less,… uhm.."

Every girl is different however, even if her heartbeat was real and the actions were fake, maybe she just acted like that because of how fast her heart beat, or maybe her heart beat so fast because of how she acted, after all, acting like a heroine was nerve racking when done on purpose, especially for the first time, and that only doubled when done towards someone as handsome as Noctis. Perhaps she was actually someone praiseworthy?

"Noctis." He gave another nonchalant response, not falling for the act.

"I see." But newfound confidence in appearance could often blind people; after all if you were made into your ideal self and given a perfect romance setting such as this, wouldn't you be the same? "As thanks, perhaps we could…"

"Why were you falling from the sky?" Having something more interesting in mind than continue on with something stupid like this, he interrupted her to change the conversation.

"Um…Huh?"

"Remember, rushing wind, the sound of an explosion, rapidly approaching ground? How did you get into that?"

"Oh..that…" She seemed to tense as if reminded about your dark history in middle school. "I was in my room reading Fanf…poetry… When I drifted off, I found myself in the sky with the rushing wind."

"So it just happened, no warning?"

"That's right, I was really terrified you know! After having read a fanf….poem til the end, it was stopped midway through! The author completely disregarded their fanbase and left midway through writing it, can you believe it?! So after I got annoyed and toss…set it down, I went to sleep. THEN, the next thing I knew, there was rushing wind, and a huge explosion, what the hell was happening, you know?!" It seemed she burst; shouting out everything she had held in, it was definitely a shocking experience so it couldn't be helped, however the crawling over the bed as she closed the distance definitely could have.

"Oh? So it was night? It was just after three in the afternoon when you fell… Is your room in Vale?" He asked intrigued, but you couldn't blame him, the story sounded interesting, and even if it was dubious at best, the fact of the matter is she appeared in the sky out of nowhere, so she had some credit to her story, if only slightly.

"Vale? No I was in Atla…..Wait Vale? As in Vale, Vale? Near Patch, home to Beacon, led by Professor Ozpin, Vale, that Vale, right?"

"Oh? So you've heard of me?" As if on cue, a grey haired spectacled man walks in, a cane in one hand a coffee mug in another, which he promptly took a sip out of as a blond haired woman also entered, luckily the actual infirmary held more space that the doctor's actual office, or else this would have quickly became cramped.

"Puh…Puh…Puh…" A truly regrettable stutter.

"Professor Ozpin." Noctis replies, "The head of the Academy."

"That's right, he is, and what do you think you're doing here, shouldn't you be with everyone else in the auditorium?" She replied in a rather overbearing tone, but before Noctis could reply, he was interrupted. Judging by the subtle, indistinct expression that flashed on his face when she came in however, it was probably for the better.

"That was actually my fault; I wanted to make sure I got all the details of the event Miss Blume found herself in." The doctor said, having entered just behind the two, handing them quite a few sheets of paper.

"Well, you certainly were…Thorough." The blond replied, glancing at the pages through her spectacles, they were written on both front and back, 'this would take forever to read' she thought as she continued. "Alright, well I suppose that is fine, I can tell you what I told the students in the auditorium, you too Miss Blume, you should listen as well."

They both nodded, although Iris had a noticeable stiffness in her neck as she did so.

"Gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow will be initiation, be ready."

"Un."

"Yeth…" It seems she bit her tongue.

"Well Miss Blume, it's good to see you're awake, but we'll leave you to your rest, you'll need it if you want to attend initiation tomorrow." Ozpin replied with a soft smile before escorting himself out of the infirmary, followed quickly by the blonde woman and the doctor.

"I should find the cafeteria before it stops serving dinner, Bye." Noctis followed suit, waving his hand as he walked, not even turning his head as he left.

"Bye!" She shouted as she was quickly left in the room.

"Haah…." Releasing a long sigh she didn't realise she was holding as she looked around the room, not seeing anyone else around, she quickly jumped on the bed, screaming into the pillow as she kicked her legs up and down. "..by….wb….ru…..!" He words couldn't really be made out, but she seemed happy, like a child in a toy store. Although, if there was something to be said about her actions…

How regrettable.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Let the Hunt Begin

"It's Morning! It's Morning!"

The next day, Noctis found himself woken up by a very peculiar sounding rooster, no, he found himself waking up to the sound of an extremely hyper girl shouting at a guy in the sleeping bag next to his.

"Ah…" He breathed a deep breath as he slowly rose; running a hand through his hair as he tried to remember what he had done the night before.

He had made it just in time to the cafeteria, gathering as much food as he could before it closed and opted to take it outside, even though the sun had begun to set, it wasn't cold, considering how high they were that was quite a feat for the school. Sitting on a nice patch of grass next to a fountain, he quickly dug in to the veritable mountain of food he had on his plate, he had missed lunch after all due to the airship flight, so it couldn't be helped that when he entered the cafeteria he quickly grabbed as much as he could balance on a single plate. Although, judging by the types of food, it was clear to see where his tastes lay, the stack of meat had barely any vegetables, the odd lettuce leaf here, pieces of carrots there, but that wasn't the only thing there, as he carried more than his fair share of desserts as well, it was no wonder he couldn't find any seats at the cafeteria tables, it wasn't that there weren't any, but rather the ones that were unoccupied hadn't enough space for his feast.

Sometime later he had managed to completely finish everything; the sun had fully disappeared from the sky and was replaced by the warm, yet subdued light of the moon and stars. Not wanting to move after having felt the common feeling everyone feels after eating more than their fill; lethargy, he opted to lie back on the grass, his head resting on his palms as he gazed up at the stars.

'Nothing is better than watching the moon after eating your fill.' His honest thoughts, he didn't know how much time had passed since he began relaxing, but the night had quickly progressed, and he was feeling his eyes begin to close, so getting up, he groggily made his way over to the ballroom to sleep, leaving the plate in front of the locked cafeteria doors for them to find in the morning.

By the time he had reached the ballroom however, he had been running on autopilot, so when he grabbed his sleeping bag and just tossed it down at the first free space he had seen, his fate was sealed, doomed to be woken up by the rooster.

"The school's too large." Although, people often blamed other things, so naturally he blamed the size of the school for him being too tired to pick anywhere else, the distance from the fountain to the cafeteria then the ballroom wasn't little by any means after all.

"Hahah, well doesn't matter anyway now than I'm up." But with a light chuckle, he had left his annoyance behind, replaced by his excitement for the upcoming initiation, after all, everyone's heard the stories of how the academies test their students, and Beacon's just so happened to involve a forest of monster's located conveniently right behind the school.

###

"What the?! I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely ridiculous!" With initiation fast approaching, the atmosphere in the locker room was unusually high strung, but for a certain red-cloaked girl, she had managed to keep reasonably calm, compared to the day before at least; but the fact that she was less nervous to fight monster's than to interact with people should be a cause for concern, but the blonde beside her didn't seem to pay it much thought.

"Come on Ruby, isn't there at least one person whose team you could be on?"

"Uhm….." That raised a few flags for the girl, after all, most of the people Ruby had met didn't really seem like they'd get along with her; first impressions counted for a lot, and she didn't think she'd made a single good one. Going through everyone she had talked to, she didn't believe her and Weiss would make a very good team, Jaune was nice, but he didn't exactly look like he'd be good in a fight, Blake seemed….Yeah she wasn't a good choice either. There was also the boy who caught that girl who fell from the sky, he seemed lively, and he caught a girl falling from the sky like it was nothing, so he should be quite strong, but she hadn't seen him about since, either in the auditorium or the ballroom, so it was possible he wasn't a new student.

"There was that boy, but….Ah there he is." She muttured to herself as she found the one in question, who had just walked over to his locker.

"Boy? Who, Jaune?" Yang asked, pointing a thumb towards a certain blonde haired boy currently trying to flirt with the snobby heiress just a bit away from the two.

"No, him, the one who caught that girl after the explosion." Pointing towards a black haired boy currently securing some metal gauntlets, the next thing he should have grabbed was his weapon, but he closed the door to his locker as soon as he felt the gauntlets were on well enough. To Ruby, they didn't look like weapons, and from someone who once designed a weapon that could transform into 15 different forms, they certainly weren't designed to transform, they just seemed to be simple gauntlets; as a self-proclaimed weapon fanatic, she couldn't help but feel confused, even somewhat itchy watching the boy grin confidently without even using a weapon.

"That actually happened? Which one?" Yang questioned, looking around at a few of the other students that really didn't seem to stand out. Sure enough, there seemed to be a new face she hadn't seen in the room before, he was quite the looker too. "Look at my baby sister, already putting in the moves on a hunk." Yang teased as she looked the boy up and down, he had a nice face, and there seemed to be a wild charm about him, and with his strong looking body, she seemed to be caught in the allure, her eyes narrowing like a lion ready to pounce.

"It wasn't like that! I don't even know his name." Ruby shouted in embarrassment under her sisters teasing tone, although the red face didn't help her case.

While such a scene was enfolding between the two sisters, elsewhere in the room there was a shadow with sparkling eyes, it seems everyone in the locker room had been purposefully avoiding looking at that part where the shadow stood, which was peering at the row ruby found herself in, switching between observing her and her sister to the group with the blond boy, who was apparently called Jaune by Yang, the heiress Weiss and a tall red-haired girl in gold, roman style armour.

"Gue Heh Heh…." It also seemed to be muttering with a very unnerving look on its face.

"Ah…I'll just get my weapon some other time." Said someone who saw the figure was near their locker, though not out of fear, but rather because they were worried that the figure would set their eyes on them next.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. I repeat would all first year students make their way to Beacon Cliff immediately." Over the intercom system, a familiar voice resounded, sending a shiver of anticipation up the shadow's spine as it tore its eyes away from the two groups and settled on a single boy.

"I'll need to be on his team if I don't want anything to…."

"Excuse me; you're in front of my locker." The student who had wanted not to approach sucked up their courage, feeling they would rather face this unknown than be late for initiation, the adrenaline kicking in from the intercom partly helped though. Fortunately for them however, the figure quickly corrected themselves, as it turns out it wasn't a foul beast at all, but a girl, who actually seemed quite proper as she lowered her head slightly.

"Ofcourse, my apolog-HUHEI!" Unfortunately, she head-butted the locker in the middle of their speech; rather than a fearsome shadow, the student had to deal with a regrettable Huntress (-in-training).

###

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be put to the test in Emerald Forest." Standing on a cliff side with his favourite mug, Professor Ozpin began addressing the numerous students lined up in front of him. Each student was standing on a platform with an insignia across it, many of them preparing to race into the forest below at a moment's notice, although each student on either sides decided to jump on the platform, feeling it give out a little as they landed. On his far right, Ozpin noticed the girl from the infirmary the day before, while on his left he noticed the boy. 'Iris Blume and Noctis Regnum, was it?'

"Now I'm sure you've heard rumours about the assignment of teams, well allow us to put an end to your confusion." Beside him, his trusted aide and fellow professor, Glynda Goodwitch, was continuing along with her part in the address, "Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Although a certain red-cloak clad girl let out a groan with that statement.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with those with whom you can work well." Taking over for Glynda, Ozpin continued on with the explanation, though the red-cloak clad girl liked his part even less. "That being said, in the forest you will be paired with the first person you make eye contact with after landing, and the members of your team will be solely decided by the relic you choose."

"ouhhhou…." It appeared that Ozpin's words had been affecting Ruby for quite some time now. That being said, she wasn't as bad as a certain girl at the very end of the pack who had forgot something very important as she had been too excited and joyful since she woke up this morning; the frightened look on her face as she looked at the ground painting a thousand words.

"How am I meant to land?!"

"You will find these relics in the ruins at the northern side of the forest. Each pair must choose one and guard it from anything you meet along the way as you make your way back to the top of this cliff. There will be opposition along the way, but do not hesitate to fight back against anything in your path. Or you will die."

A grin appeared on the face of the student to his left. He's realised the wording of that particular paragraph in the rules. Whether the grin should be something seen as a bother to his academy or a blessing however, he can only wait and see.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. We will be watching, so guard your item as well as your standing and you will be graded appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um... Sir?"

"I do!"

"No? Good. Now take your positions." And with that, the platform beneath each of the student's feet began to rumble, while one boy asked timidly, on Ozpin's far right he could see that Iris seemed almost desperate to ask the question. But sadly, she didn't have time as her platform, as luck would have it, was first,

FUWOMP

"WAAHHHH, HOW AM I MEANT TO LAND!" While it was a regrettable appearance as the girl began soaring through the air for the second time in as many days, even the most cold-hearted felt pity as she disappeared into the forest canopy.

The more timid boy, seemed a bit put off by the appearance however, asking with a bit more tension in his voice. But to Noctis, that didn't really matter anymore; he was just excited to finally get to it as the number of students on the cliff quickly declined, the sound of ejecting platforms getting closer and closer. Crouching down like he was an animal ready to pounce, the blonde a few people to his left finally got ejected, looking all the more shameful than Iris as he too screamed as he flew into the air, perhaps another one is ready to join the regrettable ranks of the first years?

But finally, it came to his turn, as the platform shot him forward, he extended his legs, adding on to the force that suddenly propelled him through the air, giving him a bit more of a boost as he began soaring through the air above the treetops.

"WOO HOO! Now this is what I'm talking about!" It wasn't odd to enjoy the feeling of the air rushing through your hair as you soared through the sky, right? How often do people get to experience such a thing anyway? Spreading his arms wide, he slowed down slightly, this was probably the closest he would have to being a bird, so it was good to enjoy it, but as he began getting lower and lower towards the ground, he knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy the sensation for long. Unlike a few he had seen while he was in the air who used their guns to give them a boost, or slow their descent, he had none, although putting all his power into the jump before he was propelled had definitely gave himself a boost, even if it was just his normal jumping strength, he definitely had been airborne for longer than most. And unfortunately for the academy, the price of his extra airtime was that the next time they tried to use that platform, they would find that the mechanism had been broken by the force of his jump and pressed it back as it tried to open, jamming the mechanism and shattering several small moving parts, although that was a story for another day.

Holding out his arms in front of him to brace himself, impacts quickly hit the metal gauntlets around his forearms, many people would think that this was when they would transform, thinking their appearance as normal gauntlets was a ruse to take enemies by surprise, and they would be right.

If that were true.

Which it wasn't. They were just normal gauntlets, just an ol' hunk o' metal to protect the forearms. Absolutely nothing else.

But the small impacts where from the top branches of the canopy colliding with the metal, each impact slowly down his speed, but only marginally as gravity kept pulling him down in her grasp, as he lowered from the top foliage, he was now in the understory, like a different world from above, light barely getting through the tree's had created a new world hidden by the branches and sunlight, but it wasn't impossible to see as he looked ahead. His destination, as luck would have it, was a large, thick trunked tree that seemed to reach well above the canopy, so he readjusted his posture, placing his feet just in front of him, he slightly banked using his arms, until finally he collided with the tree. Although thanks to his efforts, he hit the tree at an angle, slightly diverting the force propelling him forward, he directed it to the side, jumping off the tree towards another, this time, it was a rather long tree, though it didn't seem to have that thick or study a trunk, as when he shot forward and grabbed hold of the top, it began to bend, slowing bringing him to the ground, and while at first it was rapid descent, it had been slowly suppressing the force behind him until it looked to be at its limit, and it stopped bending down, luckily he wasn't even four feet off the ground, so he jumped of, landing softly on the grass below.

WHOOOOOSH

Followed by the sudden whoosh like that of a whip as the tree shot up to its original position after a slight bobbing back and forth, although it seemed to have a noticeable slant that wasn't there before.

Not that that fazed the boy who grinned at his surroundings as they slowly growled back, exposing his sharp canines in the process.

"Let the hunt, begin."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Now that's a Warmup

Gurururururururururururu

Low guttural growls are coming from the surrounding forests, it isn't just one, their source coming from a few locations, all however are just past the bushes, being completely hidden by the tree and the shade of the trees; the only recourse being the glimpses of black mass here and there. They were circling the small opening were Noctis had landed, their 'prey'. It was typical behaviour found in animals that hunted in a pack. Typically the animal would surround the prey, slowly enclosing them in a circle as they watched them for any openings, when the preys escape had been cut off, or when they saw an opening, all the animals would charge in to overwhelm the target, it was very smart behaviour using their number advantage and proper group work.

"Let the hunt."

GGGUURRAAAH

These however, weren't animals. Such could be seen as a large black figure leapt out from behind in an attempt to catch the student off guard.

"BEGIN!"

His right fist came swinging back with a wide yet quick rotation, the back of his hand connecting with the bone plating that covered the face of the monster, the pure white mask with red markings cracked under the force of impact, but it didn't stop there. The fist sent the monster's neck turning to the left as it continued on, using the momentum of the swing, he brought his left leg in a rotating roundhouse kick, connecting with the ribcage of the beast, a clear breaking sound filled the surrounding as the beast had been lifted into the air and flung into the tree by the strength of the kick; fading into mist shortly after.

'Beowolf.' Noctis thought as he recognised the disappearing corpse. A Beowolf was one of the Creatures of Grimm; the enemies of all of mankind. They came in many types, with this one in particular taking the form of a large, bipedal wolf. Grimm was the main enemies of huntsman, for they were truly monsters. These beings could survive without eating for years and years on end, yet they hunted, raided and killed humans, eating them not for survival but simply because they could. While currently there is no idea why they do this, there are a few things that are known about the monstrosities, the main reason being that they die shortly after being caught, so it's too difficult to research them in laboratory environments, but we know enough. The first is that these beast's sense negative energy; anger, sadness, rage, envy, all these emotions seem to attract these monsters, so it has made it extremely difficult for humanity to build large civilisations, as when the population grows, so too does the amount of negative emotions within it, and with the fear that the populace feel from a Grimm attack, more come sensing that emotion, creating an endless cycle. As such, there are very few major civilisations in this world, and the few people that are left gather within them, the four kingdoms; Mistral, Vacuo, Atlas and Vale, where this Beacon Academy happens to stand. And while there are other settlements, they are very few and far between, their numbers only a minor fraction compared to the four kingdoms.

So naturally, with death on their door, a new profession rose up; Huntsmen and Huntresses. Wielding the power of their soul, they are able to stand against these fearsome beasts, protecting their fellow man; this power, they call aura, and it was this reason that the boy was able to damage the monster so thoroughly with just his fists. You see, even now, we are still finding out applications of aura. Predominantly it is used to shield the body, draining the person's aura rather than them sustaining physical damage, but that isn't all it's capable of, as seen here, it can also enhance a person's physical attributes to superhuman levels, although it depends on the amount of aura and the user's base attributes, when thinking of Noctis and how he had taken care of the Grimm like he was swatting a fly, he seemed to be blessed with both.

"Come on! This isn't even a warm up!" It seemed the Grimm in the surrounding were hesitant at first, but under Noctis' provocation, the Grimm charged out.

"That's more like it!" Noctis shouted, his grin growing as it settled on an unnerving, almost wolf like bearing of his fangs.

The 4 that had jumped out had even less bone plating on their bodies than the first one, but perhaps with numbers they stood a chance.

GGGGUUUURRRRAAAAHHHH

The one with the least bone plating was the first to arrive, with only his face covered, the blood red eyes seemed to shine though the eye holes as it swung its claws in an 'X' swipe, moving downwards. Even though it had little bone armour, it's body was still quite large, towering over the 6ft1 height of Noctis, so the power of the claws was by no means little but,

"Tch, is that all?" They were both stopped, no, they were both caught, Noctis' hands were placed up and out towards them, holding them in place as he stared up at the beast, his bright golden eyes taunting the Beowolf. Naturally, the fangs of the Beowolf matched the sharpness of its claws, if not surpassing them, but before it could open its jaw, Noctis had reeled his head back before whipping it forward, his forehead colliding with the end of the snout of the Grimm, forcing it to reel back itself, he wasted no time in kicking it straight in the gut, forcing it back onto the incoming second Grimm.

The third and fourth acted in unison as they charged him together, one at either flank. The third took a wild horizontal swing, while the fourth pounced in hopes to catch the target in the air. Hopes that went unanswered as he charged into the third's breast, too close to be hit by the claw, he instead grabbed the extended arm as it made its way to him, throwing the larger beast in a standard grapple throw over his shoulder, it collided with the fourth as they both flew through the air.

But there was no time to rest as, quickly performing a backwards somersault, he dodged another horizontal swipe, this one from the first Beowolf, and as he landed, he performed a backwards roll to avoid the second Beowolf's pounce. As he rolled back, as soon as his feet connected with the ground, they shot him forward explosively, still coming out of the backwards roll, he used the backwards rotational momentum to bring his left knee up, colliding with the jaw of the second Beowolf who hadn't recovered from landing, and sending it up into the air in an arc, but it had no chance to complete the arc. The reason being that as soon as the hind legs reached just above his head, Noctis reached out, grabbing one and slamming it down on the first one. The impact causing a slight crack in the ground as the bodies collided. And as their forms began to fade, he kicked their collapsed bodies towards the third and fourth that had been about to re-enter the fight. His form and power would make quite a few footballers jealous as the corpses flew through the air like a speeding bullet. The third one had taken the brunt of the damage, with the fourth one leaping over the three, intent on charging in alone. But as it cleared its allies, Noctis had vanished. It couldn't find the boy's figure anywhere, but almost immediately, it figured it out, with the back heel of the boy colliding with the spine of the Beowolf, sending it slamming onto the ground, but by then, it had already died.

The last one fared no better, it's body being sent to oblivion with a final straight punch directly where the heart should be.

"I guess that's about right." He muttered as he picked up the slowly fading Beowolf by its neck, looking into its eyes. "It didn't really count as a proper warm up."

Guuuuuuuraaaaaa

But it wasn't over yet.

A single, deep, guttural growl resounded just behind him. It was a tone deeper than the ones from before, but the intensity it held was in a league of its own.

The source of such a powerful sounding growl was the new Beowolf that had stepped out from the thicket. Unlike the previous 5, this one seemed to hold a primal ferocity about it. Its body was covered in more bone plating that the previous five combined, it was clearly another level.

"An Alpha, huh?"

You see, unlike humans, the Creatures of Grimm completely lack any sort of soul, depriving them of the use of aura. To make up for this, they have extremely powerful bodies, their strength and durability matched only by their savagery. Many types of Grimm also begin to grow bone like armour plating over their bodies, with Beowolves being one of them, as they age. Beowolves also begin to develop bone-like spine protrusions on top of this exoskeleton, and judging by how the one in front of him has them running all the way down to the base of his spine, out the back of his elbows, his shoulders, up his forearms, his chest; it could be said this one had lived for quite a long time, most likely having lived several hundred years, if it's size didn't already tell you that. The reason being that the bone-like exoskeleton isn't the only thing it gains as it grows, as with its body increasing in power, its size also increases, and this one seemed at least more than thrice his height. But that in itself made the current encounter rather strange, not mentioning that it was in the middle of initiation, one this old would never venture this far near human civilisations, the reason being, they should know better.

The reason being, as a Grimm ages, it gains more and more experience with fighting humanity, and with each and every encounter, they should be learning. And as they learn more and more, they begin to lose their innate outward recklessness, instead of charging towards a human at the first chance they get, they begin exercising caution, and very few tread near human settlements, as their newfound self-preservation should be telling them they shouldn't. But it should be said, even if they begin to attack humanity less and less, they never lose their innate hostility, only waiting for an opportunity to strike at a moment of weakness; perhaps this controlled, subdued bloodlust of the older Grimm are the truly fearful thing about them.

But even with knowing all that, Noctis only grinned at the aged beast, for whatever reason, it saw this moment as the perfect timing to strike from its hidey hole in the bushes as it had watched the battle, and perhaps if it had attacked then, it might have succeeded, but it chose to instead just show itself to him instead of a sneak attack. Perhaps that was its honour as an 'Alpha', after all, Beowolves were once believed by ancient humans to be the evil spirits of wolves, pack animals that anointed the greatest hunter among them as the Alpha, and within its territory, it ruled. And as such, it faced the foe as if it were beneath it.

"You aren't gonna come?" Noctis said, tossing away the still evaporating corpse of the Beowolf as he caught the Alpha in his sights. The Alpha had made no move, only standing with an overbearing expression as if he expected his prey to just leap into its mouth, it must have truly believed itself to be above the boy in front of it, its red eyes almost seemed to contain arrogance as they glowed.

'It really thinks it is the Alpha here.' Noctis couldn't help but chuckle as he lowered his stance until he was on all fours. If what he thought was true, then it must have gone senile in its old age. Whether it ruled this territory for decades or not, that didn't matter, because it had made a fatal mistake

"I'm the Alpha here!"

With the sound of an explosion, Noctis had appeared in front of the Alpha as if he had teleported, and with his fist extending out, it connected with the bone exoskeleton of the targets chest, and as it did, another explosion occurred, or rather the sound of one did as the Beast had cracked, being sent flying far into the backdrop, even the trees in the way stood no chance as they were knocked out of its path.

"Hahah, now this is EXCITING!" And with that, he charged after the Beowolf with a feral growl to his voice and a speed like that of a cheetah.

###

"Haah….Haah…" Noctis stood hunched over, his breathing was ragged as he faced off against a large Beowolf that stood at least 7 meters tall. He had a few bruises, but thanks to his aura, most of the damage was mitigated, rather the fact than he even had bruises when he still had aura showed just how powerful this beast truly was, being able to deal blunt force damage to the parts it hit, even if the slices of the claws were mitigated, the force could not be. And usually, the damage wouldn't be able to pass through the aura, and in the event that it did, it was light enough that it would instantly heal, another benefit of aura, and the fact that hadn't happened yet showed just how much force each swing held.

But that beast in question, had definitely seen better days, it's once pure white, untouched bone-like exoskeleton was broken, cracked, and not a small amount of the spine protrusions over its body had been snapped clean off. But its eyes still shone with hostility, it seemed the self-preservation it got with its old age wasn't working, its desire to end Noctis' life was just that strong.

But Noctis's desire to kill it was just as strong.

The Alpha charged the boy on all fours, slashing with its right, Noctis quickly dodged under it, his footwork turning his body 360 degrees, drawing a circle on the ground. But with the missed claw, the Alpha went in for another, it's giant claw intent on rending his head from his body, and his rotation was directly on its path, but instead of stopping to dodge, he merely brought up his right arm to catch the left paw.

Clang.

The large paw stopped, all force completely dissipated as it came into contact with the metal gauntlet, Noctis merely grinned as even the face of the Grimm seemed surprised. He mustered all his strength as he grabbed the paw, kicking the knee of the Beowolf to send it off balance; he twirled the Alpha in mid-air, before slamming it down onto the ground, spreading cracks all around as a small crater formed around the body. Lifting the Beowolf up using it's arm, he slammed his left foot into the side of the Alpha's body, as soon as it made contact, an explosion resounded throughout the forest, followed by a deafening crack, and a snap, all before the body of the Beowolf shot forward towards a tree, but before it even hit it, it had dissolved into smoke.

"Haah….Haah…" Noctis was exhausted, looking at the arm of the now dead Beowolf, he merely tossed it aside before chuckling, "Now that's what I call a warmup."

**A/N **

**Finally some action, right? It had a bit too much of explaining about various stuff, but that's usually what the first few chapters usually are, even if everyone knows how the world is, the writer shouldn't just assume that and play it off, at least I think so. Hopefully the action balanced it out, tell me how it went, and leave a review, I'd love to hear some feedback.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – It's Not a Stick

"Where are these goddamn ruins!"

It had been just over an hour since Noctis had defeated the Alpha Beowolf and he was no closer to finding any ruins. Even with his somewhat slow pace to allow himself time to recover, to not find a single other being that entire time when the forest should be crawling with fellow examinees could be considered bad luck, especially when you consider his somewhat better hearing increasing his perimeter of awareness, he hadn't heard or seen another soul – although he encountered no Grimm either so he managed to recover quite a bit.

Shortly after he began getting frustrated with the forest, having felt like he was being led in circles, getting déjà vu more than once after passing vaguely familiar trees, the sound of running water entered his ears' range.

A happy relief from the forest's monotony, a freshwater river was just outside his vision, right behind the far bushes.

"Ha Ha, now this is good." He exclaims joyfully as he takes mouthfuls of the running freshwater, it couldn't be helped considering how refreshing drinking water straight from a river usually was.

At first, he had thought to stay, strip and relax by the river and since it was a slow stream, it would be just right for some leisure, but he reluctantly had to dismiss the idea, still being in the middle of a test, he couldn't, but he still allowed himself a few minutes to enjoy it; he was an impulsive young man after all, something that the academy judges watching and grading him agreed with, especially a certain headmaster's company.

"That is not necessarily a bad thing, Glynda." But Ozpin, the headmaster, seemed to disagree.

"How could it not be? Lacking control of your impulses in a team could lead to their deaths, if he can't follow simple instructions in this test, how will he follow his team's orders?" While she carried some valuable points, it caused Ozpin to chuckle slightly, she understood he wasn't being derisive but it did cause a vein to appear on her forehead for a moment.

"Your words just sounded like something Ironwood would say." Ozpin said at the end of his chuckle, taking a sip out of his mug before continuing. "Glynda, we aren't making soldiers, feeling impulses and desire is something we all have, it should be encouraged – restricting them would only destroy what makes huntsmen unique in the first place. As for control, who is to say he has none?" Finishing off, he redirected her focus back to the scroll, displaying the scene further upstream.

"What's this?" It had been just a few minutes after he began to relax at the side of the river when something floated down it. It was a somewhat long looking stick, although to call it a stick would offend all woodworkers in existence.

It was a finely carved wooden bo staff, about the length of a walking cane, it had a slight curve to it and its cross-section wasn't the typical circle, seeming more rectangular with rounded ends. It had a nice sheen to the purplish-red amaranth wood with a black ring going around the wood at a length between a third and a quarter from the top. It looked like some sort of weapon so Noctis decided to keep it, after all, if he threw it at the next Grimm he found, it should do some damage, right? At least that's what he thought as he got out of the river.

That's when he saw something further up the stream, looking as if something had washed ashore. Tying the laces of his boots together, he slung them over his shoulder and keept his pants rolled up to let his feet feel the ground beneath them, he quickly made his way closer to see what it was, being too far away to completely make it out, even with his somewhat better than average eyesight; at first it looked like a dead fish had washed ashore but as he got closer the purple hair and matching sleeveless dark purple cardigan made it clear it was actually a fellow student. Approaching the girl lying facing away from him, he tapped her with his foot to see if she was ok, but in doing so she was flipped onto her back, revealing a face he recognised.

"Dammit."

He cursed under his breath as he saw she was unconscious, pressing two fingers against the side of her neck he felt an extremely weak pulse; it wasn't hard guessing the reason considering her drenched clothing.

It was now or never if he wanted to save her since there was no telling how long she had been submerged and fortunately for the girl, Noctis had no reason to let the girl die, already preparing to administer first aid.

Sitting on the ground beside her, he tilting her head back, pinched her nose, and began performing mouth to mouth CPR, starting with five rescue breathes; but there was no change in her condition. Following the next step of CPR protocol he placed both hands on her sternum, directly above her heart and began with chest compressions, two every second. After doing them in a steady rhythm for 15 seconds, he performed another two rescue breathes; again there was no change.

Perhaps by sheer luck, as he performed another 2 chest compressions, the girl's body jolted up into a sitting position with a violent cough, spitting up water as she hunched over to the side opposite Noctis. It continued until she had managed to completely rid her lungs of water before she flopped onto her back in a starfish and gazed up into the clouds as she breathed heavily.

"..Thank….You…." Her voice was extremely strained, it was clear she was weak from the near-drowning experience. In all fairness, she was extremely lucky, if Noctis wasn't as experienced in CPR as he was, she might have drowned, her life ending was that close.

It wasn't until a good solid 15 minutes later that she regained the strength to stand up again. Noctis didn't mind the time however, using this as an excuse to relax by the water until she was done; after all, they were now partners in this forest – although whether he actually cared for her to regain some strength or for his own enjoyment was up for debate.

Laying down against a tree in the shade, resting his hands between the back of his head and the tree, he opened one eye as he heard the girl shuffle in front of him.

"Thank you for saving my life!" On her knees, the girl had pressed her head onto the ground as she expressed her gratitude.

"Yeah, no problem." He replied as he got up, not batting an eye at her weird posture. "Stand up."

"I can't! Not until I have properly….."

"I don't care, just get up, we're already behind." It seemed she was that type of person who had to repay their debts tenfold. But Noctis had more important things to worry about than that, reminding her of the current situation.

"Ah….you're right." She spoke as she stumbled to her feet, bowing a full 90 degrees, "Thank you once again. For saving my life, I may not be able to repay you, but I will do my best to use this life you saved to do so."

"Yeah, yeah, just stand still for a moment."

"Okaaa-HEEEY!..Wha-wha-wha-what are you doing?" She meekly replied in shock as he walked around her and held her waist from the back, their posture could be considered somewhat indecent from a third person perspective, causing a certain someone to choke on what their hot chocolate as they watched, but the next second that train of thought was rectified, "I kn-kn-know I said I would repay you, but it's too soo-OOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"What the hell was she talking about?" Noctis replied, having thrown her high into the air, she reached just below the top of the canopy, "Damn not enough force."

"-OOONNNNNNN!" As she fell back to earth due to the gravity and landed in Noctis' arms much like when their first met, she wriggled and struggled out of them, screaming like she should be interred in some sort of asylum, her now messed up hair only adding to that image….how regrettable.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" She shouted as she hid behind a tree to separate them, slightly peeking around it to keep an eye on the boy.

"Having you repay your gratitude by helping me find the ruins, did you see anything up there?" Noctis nonchalantly replied as if he did nothing wrong, almost as if he forgot she had a traumatic experience just the other day.

"..Re…pay?..." She appeared to be at war with herself, one side wanting to repay a debt, and the other wanting to rebuke his handling of such a fragile (in her mind) maiden. "I…suppose…..it's fine." She squeaked out, from the grinding of her teeth however, it was clear she was against the idea.

But as if naturally, Noctis didn't care as he replied, "Great. Now stand straight and remember to keep an eye out." With clear excitement in his tone he gripped her once more, this time by the thighs as he covered himself in aura and threw her straight up, jumping with his legs to add even more momentum.

"AAHHHHHHH!" She soared much higher than before, clearing the canopy. As someone who had never flown before, this was probably the highest she had ever been if you didn't count yesterday, but from the few times she had been this high she was quickly loving the ground beneath her feet more and more.

As she began to reach the peak of the throw, she frantically looked around, desperately trying to find a landmark to report; there was no telling what the madman (in her mind) would do if this was a fruitless endeavour. Perhaps the Brother Gods felt sorry for the regrettable girl as she reached the peak of the throw and began descending, a large black bird, no, a large nevermore flew underneath her.

Like a moving picture, Noctis saw the figure of the girl land on the back and get carried away by the giant Grimm.

"Shit."

###

Shortly before a regrettable girl was thrown into the sky,

"Ruby!" On the back of a giant nevermore, a familiar red and white clad duo were hanging on for dear life. "I told you this was a bad idea!"

"We're fine!" The red girl, Ruby, reassured, and almost immediately afterwards, a third girl landed on the birds back, "See! Someone else joined us!"

"AHHHHHHH!" Of course, the girl was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Where did you come from!" Weiss shouted at the still screaming girl who clung to the birds feathers for dear life. "How did you even get up here!"

"I was!...He… Throw…AAHHHHH!" Unlucky for Weiss, the new girl was not in the right mind for a conversation; the past 2 days events must have severely damaged her psyche.

"We're going to have to jump!" Ruby shouted as the nevermore began trying to shake them off mid-flight, apparently it wasn't taking too kindly to the three hitching a ride.

"Wha-What do you mean JUMP?!" The third girl shouted in shock, but before she could get a reply, Ruby had already jumped off the bird.

"Oh you insufferable little brat!"

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die!" As the purple haired girl mind was reaching its limit, Weiss' patience was also being severely tested

"Will you be quiet for one second! There's another way without jumping!" Luckily, the white girl, Weiss, having been left by her partner came up with a plan and managed to calm down the other's deathly screams.

"What's…the…plan!" She shouted as the Grimm began shaking even heavier to get them off, resulting in her voice undulating with each shake.

"First…we..have…to…." Sadly the nevermore wasn't going to let it be that easy as the shaking quickly became too much for the Heiress when she began to explain, knocking her off with a particularly violent jolt.

"Watch out!" The last girl had inadvertently tried to reach out and save Weiss from falling, which also proved to be her own undoing, as she couldn't withstand the last shake with only one hand holding onto the Grimm's feathers, finally falling off. "Someone catch me! Someone catch me! Someone catch me!"

"There's one more, we need to help her!" Someone from a group in a large clearing below shouted, a few of the others in the group each attempting to move towards the ground under the falling girl, but it was too far, no one was going to make it in time, even for Ruby who had recollected herself after her own fall, they were just too far away.

But at the last second, on the other side of the opening, which was a lot closer to the girl's falling point, an explosion rang out as not a moment later, a figure appeared standing beneath the girl as she landed in his arms, something quickly becoming a usual occurrence for the pair.

"She's safe."

"Thank goodness."

"Wow, did you see that, Ren! It was like 'BOOM!' then he just was there!"

The group rushing over came to a stop in relief as they realised someone had made it in time to catch her; and just as they stopped, a redhaired girl in bronze armour was flung to the ground at their feet.

"Great, the gang's all here! Now we can all die together!"

"You still alive, Ydris?" Noctis, having just about reached his partner in time, asked as he set her down on her own two feet.

"I'm…I'm fine." She mumbled, having been shaky at first, she managed to correct herself before his words finally processed in her head. "What did you just call me?"

"Ydris, isn't that your name, Ydris Bloom?" Replying with little attention as if the subject of a person's identity didn't really matter to him, he began walking over to the centre of the clearing which as luck would have it, were the ruins with the relics they were sent to retrieve. A brief glance at them however revealed them as nothing more than slightly bigger than normal chess pieces, with a set of black and gold pieces, but the odd thing was; among them were also pawns, completely white like a blank canvas.

"My name isn't Ydris! It's Iris! IRIS BLUME!" She shouted, stomping over to catch up to him just as he picked up a golden knight piece. "WAHHH!" What are you doing!" Screaming like a banshee, she snatched the piece right from his hand and placed it back on the podium before getting in-between it and him like she was just hired to be its bodyguard.

"Collecting the relic, what are you doing?"

"Shouldn't we…ahem…Don't you think we should be helping our fellow students first?" She asked, and for the first time today, it seemed she was back to her 'refined lady' act; for this to be the first, she must have been severely stressed for some reason?

Noctis on the other hand, if it didn't interest him, he usually didn't do it, and a 10 against 1 versus a single deathstalker definitely fell into the 'not interested' section. "They look like they have it under control."

"Then how about this piece instead?" Iris aked as she dashed to the nearest piece on the board, a white pawn. For some reason, she really didn't want him to have the golden knight.

"Why?"

"Why? Umm…. The pawn is the best piece?"

"But it can only move one space, can't the horse move much more freely?" Admittedly Noctis had only ever played chess a couple of times, not enjoying the game, so his knowledge of the pieces was limited, and in his mind after the queen, the knight was the best bet due to its unpredictable movement pattern.

"See, that's where you're wrong!" With quite a bit of enthusiasm due to noticing a chance of persuading him, she began explaining why they should choose the pawn. "The pawn is weak at the start, right? It can only move in a straight line and after its first move, only one square at a time." That lined up with Noctis' memory, nodding for her to continue. "But when the pawn reaches the other end of the board it can be promoted, you know? Most people say pawns are the weakest on the board, but that's not really true, they have the greatest potential of any piece on the board! Even if it starts as a weak pawn, it could end up being promoted to the strongest piece on the board, the queen! That's why it's the best piece, not because it's weak, but because it has the greatest potential!"

"…" She was oddly enthusiastic about the pawn, 'the piece with the ability to become anything'….Those words hit harder than he would care to admit, and in a rare moment of capitulation, he acquiesced, though reluctantly, with a single word in response, "Fine."

"Excellent!" She exclaimed as she clapped her hands together, "Now we can just grab this and get out of here!"

"She's right." Ruby, who had regrouped with the others after an attack on the deathstalker had almost ended her if not for someone freezing the beast's tail in a wall of ice, continued. "Our objective is to grab an artefact and make it back to the cliff; there's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live – now that's a plan I can get behind." A blond haired boy in knight armour approved as he went with Ruby to get a relic, getting a golden rook while she grabbed the golden knight which Noctis almost took.

"Plus one of us is missing a weapon; running seems like the best option." The blonde haired girl, Yang, commented, to which everyone agreed; it would be difficult to fight both a giant Nevermore and old Deathstalker while protecting another student.

"Someone is missing their….WAHHH! Where is my weapon!" Iris, having just now realised she was the one without a weapon, screamed in panic "Has anyone seen it?! It looks like a wooden cane made of a purpley-red wood, it's…."

"You mean this stick?" Noctis nonchalantly interrupted her, holding up a plain, but obviously hand crafted, odd looking amaranth wooden stick with a slight curve. Giving it a once over as a mental debate ensued, 'finders keepers, right', but he quickly decided against it in the same second, opting to just throw it to the original owner, "I picked it up back by the river, it looked like a hand-carved piece of wood so I kept it; it's yours, right?"

For some reason, she didn't like the way he treated it like just a toy as her eyes sharpened and her body moved to catch it as if by reflex. "It's not a stick." Her voice was much more colder and sharper than usual, it was strong like a warrior, yet refined like a noble, different from her lady act from usual, the grip on the weapon wasn't just an act, with careful precision, she held it closer to her body; both hands on either side of the black ring before the top began to pull out, revealing a light glimmer of a metallic blade, "It's a Shirasaya Katana."

**A/N**

**Long time no see, huh? Been wanting to get back into this for a while, and since Coronavirus is locking down the entire worlds economy, I figured now is as good a time as any!**

**I'm sure all of you are wondering how I'm gonna be making teams, or have you all figured it out from the hints in the first chapter. Word of warning, it's probably going to piss a lot of you off, but since this is technically an AU, it has a reason. I'm not just following the show's plot afterall, I plan to delve into a subplot of my own, and it's already begun, mwa ha ha.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed and give some feedback, It's my first time writing anything, I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – A Rose by Any Other Name

"We're almost there!"

"CCRRRRRAAAAWWWWW!"

As the group sprinted towards the cliff, the end was just in sight; all they had to do was make it across an old bridge and tower to cross the ravine that separated the cliff and them. But as they almost reached it, a giant shadow large enough to block out the sun flew overhead and landed on top of the very tower they were aiming for, releasing an ear-shattering shriek from its perch.

"Quick, get to cover!" Shouted Ruby, who had been acting as the makeshift leader of the group since they all joined together, though no one seemed to protest this current status-quo of the youngest taking control of the situation; either they didn't care; were proud of her; or they simply hadn't realise it was happening. But in all honesty, there was no basis for a protest even if they realised, she had shown a natural leader's disposition by giving out orders, even if they were somewhat unremarkable and would be found on page 1 of 'giving orders in the heat of the moment for dummies', the fact she remained calm enough to take control of a situation when even some of her seniors hadn't been able to was something worthy of recognition, and the few in the group who noticed were even impressed – no doubt the examiners were the same.

"Well that's just great!" Shouted Yang, hiding behind a pillar. The nevermore had blocked their path, things weren't looking easy for the 10 teens and as if fate decided to kick it up a notch, just behind them trees were getting knocked down one after another, getting closer it became clear that the fault lay with the Death stalker hot on their trail.

"Aw man, run!" Shouted a blond boy in white and gold light armour as the Deathstalker threatened to tear into the group if they stood still.

As everyone ran out of their cover, the nevermore cawed once again, preparing to swoop down and take one of the invaders that stepped into its territory. One student, a boy in green attire and a single strand of pink in his hair gave an order to the short ginger girl at his side, "Nora, Distract it!"

The girl wearing a pink skirt, Nora, followed through, "You got it, Ren!", rolling to avoid the bird's projectile feathers, she pulled the grenade launcher from her back and began returning fire on the airborne Grimm, letting loose some excited screams as the grenades exploded with pink smoke, keeping it at bay.

"Now this looks fun!" He wasn't going to let these guys have all the fun, it wasn't in his nature, so Noctis exclaimed he would help as he pulled the feathers from the ground; being the type to go into a fight with his bare hands, he had picked up the useful skill of throwing whatever he could, be it discarded weapons, stones, or in this case – Nevermore feathers. "How. About. I. Return. The. FAVOUR!" He shouted, having picked up all the feathers, holding them under his left arm as he threw them javelin style with his right after each word.

"AAACCCAAWWW!" Their sharpness wasn't just for show, being as effective on the Grimm as it was on the students. Each feather striking the giant bird in the torso, but perhaps as proof of how long the nevermore had been alive; the damage was less severe than he had hoped, barely penetrating the tough skin of the airborne attacker. But that didn't mean it had no effect, the many feathers clearly disrupting it as it flew, causing it to look more like a new-born during its first flight than the predator it was, hobbling through the air, it managed to escape the range of the girls grenades just as Noctis ran out of feather ammo.

His short break to attack had caused him to fall behind a majority of the group, so he ran ahead towards the bridge to catch up, the girl however was not as lucky, having been a bit further back, the Deathstalker had already caught up and was about to strike with its giant pincers readying for a swipe.

"Huah!" But she was saved as Blake and the boy in green, who she called Ren, swooped in and parried a pincer each, with Weiss hoping down to carry Nora to safety with the aid of a light blue glyph appearing in the ground, apparently boosting her movement.

"GO! GO! GO!" On the bridge, the redhead in bronze had been holding the line for the others to evacuate, firing rounds from her rifle as she waited for everyone to pass.

"Thanks, Pyrrha!" Called the blond haired boy as he ran past, only having a sword and shield, he held no long range capabilities, but with the next arrival, he didn't need to, as Ren turned around and began firing rapidly at the quickly approaching Deathstalker using his pair of green automatic handguns with a blade guard.

As the last person, Blake, successfully made it to the bridge, the Deathstalker was right on her tail, but she was saved by the stone pillars on either side which were to close together for the Deathstalker's wide body, stopping its chance at pursuit.

"Look out! It's coming back!" From the very front of the group, the person who had only been running since the beginning turned around to give a warning to the rest who had fallen behind just as a giant shadow closed in on the bridge; the Nevermore collided with the bridge and broke right through it in an attempt to knock the annoying students into the great ravine below.

But luckily, the warning had given the aspiring huntsmen just enough time to dodge, with every student managing to stay on the bridge and avoid being knocked off; but she wasn't completely successful as the group was now divided in two, one on the side of the tower and the other on the side of the Deathstalker.

"Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!" Shouted the blond haired, blue eyed boy in armour, having made it past and successfully landed on the tower side, he was among the first to notice that the group was split, with the others being trapped on the side with the Deathstalker that now blocked their way off the unstable bridge.

As if there was no question about it, the short girl beside him, Nora, grinned, extending the handle of her grenade launcher which turned it into a hammer as she wasted no time and leapt into the air, bringing her hammer down onto the bridge, further collapsing it. But as if she had planned it from the beginning, the bridge rose on one side and flung the boy towards the other group like a seesaw does to a child when you drop a boulder on it; she quickly followed as she pulled a trigger on her hammer and flew from the propulsion of a pink explosion.

"Now that's what I call a weapon!" Noctis called out as he saw it unfold, he had made it to the tower side, but now he was out of action for the time being; he was a close range fighter, and while he could throw objects at a distance, when there was nothing around him to throw, he was out of commission. But as he was about to leap over the fight the Deathstalker, he was approached by someone he hadn't been expecting.

"Throw me." It wasn't the normal, regrettable Iris that spoke, no, the sharpness in her eyes was filled with certainty; the fact she was asking him to throw her after her past experiences, it was even clear to Noctis she was different from usual as she approached with her hand on the stick, no, the sheath at her waist.

"You don't have to ask me twice!" He grinned in response, anything so that he could have some more fun. He stood at the edge of the bridge closest to the others as he prepared himself, "Come on!" This time opting for a different method of launching the girl; having seen her change, he thought he should spice things up a bit and see her real potential, he was also quickly becoming under the assumption her semblance was some sort of useful version of multiple personality disorder, but he didn't really care, all he knew was this serious side was interesting.

She wasted no time, charging with speed you wouldn't think of from a girl her height, roughly 167cm, while carrying a sword, she leapt into his hands as he then hoisted her into the air, she hadn't noticed before, but he was covered in aura and threw her straight up into the air, with a leap for even more momentum.

"CRRAAWWWW!" At first, she couldn't find her bearings, not expecting to be thrown into the air rather than to the other side, but it was only a momentary lapse as she saw the old Nevermore quickly approaching her with its talons outstretched, but contrary to what she would usually express, a small grin appeared on her otherwise cold expression. Even in the air, she had positioned herself in some sort of pose as if there was ground beneath her feet, even if she was beginning to fall due to gravity, her posture remained steady in a sword-drawing stance.

The Nevermore was getting closer, as it's razor sharp talons extended to wrap around her torso and squeeze her to death, a sudden flash occurred as her body shivered for a brief second, but remained in the same position, she quickly fell to the ground as black mist followed her decent.

'_To cut off the leg of such an old Grimm, so interesting!_' Noctis thought as he leapt into the air, quickly rising to the oncoming girl. He was right, its own feathers couldn't even puncture deeply into the skin on its torso when he threw them earlier, but she managed to cleave threw the things entire leg, even if she couldn't cut through the beast entirely, a leg was surely a feat that would surprise even skilled hunters.

As he approached, he caught the small grin on her mouth as his grew larger, like a bearing of fangs, his prominent canines in full view as he brought his leg into a kick towards her. But it wasn't an attack, something she had picked up on as she prepared to land on it as you would a perch, and just when she did, he shouted, "Switch!" swinging his leg with her still on it. He performed a bicycle kick with her acting like a ball; she was shot directly towards the ground as he used the momentum to propel himself even higher. It was an example of teamwork that strangers shouldn't display, but it worked perfectly for the duo as he reached a height similar to the Nevermore, who caught sight of another reaching its territory, angered from the severing of one of its legs, it closed in on the poor student, letting out a "Caw!" as if to take out its anger on an unsuspecting teen.

But Noctis was far from unsuspecting.

Keeping his ever-present grin, not perturbed by the lack of footing at all, his fist quickly connected with the top of the beast's head, it happened in an instant, but he flipped horizontally as his fist connected with the sound of an explosion, knocking the overgrown bird from the sky, sending it plummeting into the ground, or rather, towards the tower, collapsing the structure. Each member of the tower group, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang couldn't help but lose their footing as the stone beneath their very feet collapsed, forcing each of them to dodge the falling debris as they attempted to reach stable footing on the still standing parts of the now ruined tower. Each reaching safety just as Noctis fell back down to earth, landing in proximity of the four girls and within ear shot of Ruby as she spoke,

"I have a plan."

###

In contrast to the tower group, the others were busy fighting against the Deathstalker, right as Nora knocked Blake off of this side, a meteor struck the Grimm, no, Iris struck the Grimm as she rocketed down to earth thanks to Noctis; and with the Grimm braking her fall, it's thick carapace was smashed as a crater formed, collapsing under the weight and inadvertently smashing the connection between the bridge and the ground,

"We gotta move!"

"You got it, Jaune!" Shouted Pyrrha as they rushed the Deathstalker, with her being the first to reach it, she parried one of its pincers with her bronze round shield as she slashed with her sword which transformed from the rifle. Taking advantage of this opening, the Deathstalker went to attack her with its other pincer, but that too was parried, this time by the blond boy in armour, Jaune.

The silent black haired teen used this moment in the monster's loss of balance to close the distance as the Grimm frantically shot out its tail in a last ditch defence, but such an off-balance attack had no hopes of connecting with him as he instead jumped onto it just as it was retracted, shooting the connection between the bright yellow stinger and the tail.

"EEEERYAAAAAA!" It squealed in pain from the attack, violently swinging its tail to dislodge the teen, he was flung backwards, colliding with a wall and falling to the ground.

As the others, Jaune, Nora, Iris and Pyrrha were knocked back, Jaune noticed the weakness in the tail and stinger that Ren had made, shouting, "Pyrrha!" As he gestured towards it. She understood what he was saying as she rotated on the spot, throwing the shield like a discus. There was a sick squelch as the tip was completely severed, sending it straight into the shattered carapace on the Grimm's back. The great monster stumbled, but even then it still had energy to fight, seeing this continued vigour Jaune issued another order, "Nora, nail it!"

"Head's up!" She shouted, jumping up and landing on Pyrrha's shield, which somehow came back to her as if she were a magnet. The duo then fired into the air, with Pyrrha jumping hard enough to crack the bridge below them, and Nora firing her hammer to propel her even further, she soared high enough to put Noctis' throwing to shame.

"Iris, distraction!" But the Grimm wasn't going to let their plan come to fruition, preparing to sever the short teen as she came back to earth with its pincers. Jaune, who was uncharacteristically competent as a leader compared to his fighting skills, noticed its plan, coming up with his own to counter it as he shouted for the purple haired girl to distract it. And she wasted no time following through, shooting forward in a run with her body so close to the ground it looked parallel, her sheath held at her waist with each hand on either side of the black ring.

But the Deathstalker was no fool, having lived for as long as it had meant growing accustomed to the trickery of man, although even if it noticed the dustlings' strategy, it had no choice but to comply, focusing on the quicker approaching human and attempting to kill her quick enough that there was still time for it to deal with the other.

This meant both pincers coming at her from both sides, each intent on ripping her body in two, not that she had any intention of letting that happen.

A silver line appeared in the air, as if an artist had drew onto the air itself, it swayed in the air like a string carried by the wind; the girl didn't even stop, but rather at some point her feet left the ground entirely as she used her forward momentum to turn her body into a bullet, rotating truly parallel to the ground and whizzing by the beast before coming to a sliding stop on the stone pathway behind it, her weapon still held at her waist like nothing had happened.

Justin time too, as a falling Nora hammered the stinger on its back with enough force to fully destrpy the bridge's connection to land, and sending the last two on the bridge flying forward and over the beast as she once again 'see-sawed' using the crumbling bridge, with Jaune landing on his back and Pyrrha landing wonderfully.

With the last round in her chamber, Nora pulled the trigger, using the purple explosion to propel her over the beast as it began falling with the collapsing bridge, landed with a soft thud as Ren stumbled over to them still winded from before. He wasn't sure why, but the other members looked at Iris with clear astonishment. He hadn't been there to see, but for the rest, it happened so fast they almost missed it, but when she rotated past the Grimm, she quickly unsheathed her sword with such speed and accuracy; If they blinked they would have missed her lustrous blade cutting off both pincers at the weakest point on its arms in a single swing.

Their eyes were glued to the trustworthy girl's back, but that only lasted enough time for Ren to collapse face first as when the girl tripped over thin air, it no longer looked so trustworthy, just as a giant shadow once more covered the land, right as a certain firecracker leapt off of it, sending it colliding into the cliff side.

The Nevermore regained itself quite quickly, but as it began to take off, Weiss had already rushed forward and frozen the tip of its tail, anchoring it to the ground. She then quickly rushed back to set up another glyph, that is to use her semblance to create a glyph, but unlike before, this one turned black, just as Noctis and Ruby jumped onto a ribbon, sending it back to be held in place by the black glyph. Ruby rested on her scythe which was held in Noctis' hand like a Javelin.

"Are you really sure about this?" Ruby asked, she had been the one to come up with the plan, but his additions to it made her concerned.

In response, all she got was a wolfish grin and a, "Trust me."

"Well you better, because here it comes!" Weiss, having held the ribbon of Blake's weapon back for as long as she could, quickly shouted as the Nevermore broke free from the ice and quickly soared towards the group from above. She couldn't hold anymore, as the Glyph turned a molten red, the two were shot straight up into the air, after having to adjust to the flight of the Nevermore, they rocketed towards it.

BOOM!

Then the sound of an explosion occurred throughout the area, Ruby shot forward quicker than she had ever been before, forget like a speeding bullet, she felt like she was shot from a cannon as the words spoken moments before by that cannon, Noctis, continued to echo in her mind.

'_Buzzsaw_.'

At first she had no clue what he even meant, but as she held her blade back to prepare for a swipe, it suddenly dawned on her,

"OHHH, BUZZSAW!"

And with an innocent smile, she began rotating vertically, firing her scythe to increase until she wasn't even a blur any more, she looked like a buzzsaw at the speed she was going, it was almost impossible to discern between scythe and schoolgirl.

The group below all let out the same word as they watched like spectators.

"Wow…."

Faithful to her weapon, she had appeared like a true Grimm Reaper as her scythe cut straight through the avian, cutting it in half from head to tail, there was almost no resistance like taking a hot knife to butter – the old, wise Nevermore that had lived for who knows how long was killed by the young scythe wielder.

As she began descending, she twirled in the air as if dancing, with the scythe as her partner, before landing with it across her shoulder blades on top of the cliff and its blade digging into the ground. With the two halves of the deceased Grimm falling into the ravine behind her, a soft wind blew her cloak as roses fluttered from its ends, the act of killing as if a beautiful work of art as everyone watched from below, unable to move. They were completely mesmerised by the scene's beauty.

"A rose by any other name, huh?"

###

"Russell Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Larkin."

Among a large audience hall stood Ozpin on a stage, with a large audience and students standing off to the side; it was the much anticipated Team Announcement Ceremony!

As he announced the next team, each of its members student ID photo was displayed on a large monitor as they made their way to the stage, giving Ozpin enough time to gaze across the remaining 11 students. On the monitor, as was customary, there was an open slot for one more member.

"The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. As for your fifth member, as is customary, from among the remaining white pawns, I promote Todd Nuthatch to be your fifth member."

The boy in question, with dull blue hair and eyes, makes his way to stage, a quick smirk between him and the remaining members made it clear this was the team up he was hoping for as he took his place amongst them.

"From this day forward you will work together as Team CRDNL; led by – Cardin Winchester."

A light applause erupted from the audience as the newly formed team made their way off the stage as Ozpin made no delay in announcing the next.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valklyrie.

The Four of you retrieved the Gold Rook pieces. As I look amongst the remaining White pawn holders, I see no one better to promote to your team than Ms. Iris Blume!"

From the remaining six students, a name was called out, causing her to fumble in spot as she tripped over her own anxiety while standing still. Just moments before she had been watching the ceremony with an almost fervent glee, her hands clasped together as if she was watching a god descend right in front of her, but the moment her name was called, she jolted as if shocked by lightning.

As she glanced at the other five, each one gave her some support, a slap on the black from a blonde girl, a thumbs up, a smirk; each one encouraging her to take her rightful place among her new team. With all that support, even her sudden nervousness couldn't stop her as she adjusted her appearance to make sure everything was in order.

A moment later, a noble, regal young woman (from the crowd's perspective) walked on stage. She carried herself elegantly, and while those who knew her were somewhat shocked, the crowd, who this was their first time meeting her, couldn't help but feel the elegance from her every step; she was a wonderful actor considering on the inside she felt as if she could faint from joy.

"The five of you will from this day forward be known as Team JNIPR; led by – Jaune Arc!"

As Ozpin announced the team's name and leader, a smile formed on all of its members lips, whether it be the slight courtly smile of an actress or the full toothed grin of a living sugar rush, each member was happy with the announcement.

The leader however was not. Not that he was unhappy with the outcome, but rather, he was utterly shocked. He had no way of expressing his happiness simply due to the fact that his mind had almost completely shut down, unable to function as it tried to process the information; his brain was currently processing the real life example of trying to jam a square block into a circle hole – it could not compute.

"Congratulations, Jaune!" Even Pyrrha, who most would have thought would be leader, was among the smiling members. With a huge grin on her face, she punched his arm to show how happy she was at him being elected leader; although with her strength and his bad weight distribution, he was knocked onto the ground, much to the amusement of the crowd.

Thankfully however, that love tap was exactly what he needed to be snapped back to reality as the two made eye contact, he couldn't deny his new team were wholly happy for him, their unrestrained joy being their true feelings, causing a small goofy smile to appear on his own lips.

"And Finally…." While he enjoyed the moment, this was a ceremony after all, as Ozpin spoke to hasten the team from the stage so he could announce the final team matching.

"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. And Yang Xiao Long."

The last four girls were called up to stage, leaving behind a sole student. He was smirking at the turn of events, these four girls were the ones he helped defeat the old Nevermore; his body was still sore from the over use of his semblance as his muscles ached. With how perfectly everything went, from these four meeting each other and both of the partners picking the same piece, it was almost as if it was all planned from the beginning. And if that was the case, putting him on a team with a Schnee; what were they thinking, he couldn't help but wonder. As when her name was announced, the girl he fought alongside was revealed to be the daughter of the man he hated more than anything, part of him wanted to kill her then and there as intense anger for her father seeped from his very bones. The only thing stopping him being his aching body. And as he thought about it more and more, he began breaking into laughter, almost psychotically laughing as he heard the words spoken by Ozpin.

"….And so, I promote Mr. Noctis Regnum as this team's fifth member. From the way each of you fought during initiation, seeing such teamwork at that time, do not think you are merely the leftover being grouped, no. I am excited to see how far you five will progress as from this day forward you will be together as Team RRWBY; led by – Ruby Rose!"

Make no mistakes; this was all someone's plan. But not all plans' bear poisonous fruit, some blossom into beautiful orchards. But while now they may be tainted as one is angered and another is vexed, how will they bloom?

**A/N**

**Yeah, that just happened.**

**Anyway, I really liked writing this chapter, I tried to keep true to the story, but changed a few bits since two new characters joined the midst. Also, this whole story is on the belief that instead of four member teams, there is 5, my brain could only come up with this way to do it, how did it feel?**

**Also what do you think Iris' semblance is? At the moment, I have an idea of what it is, and SPOILERS(it's not a useful form of multiple personality disorder, that is something else). **

**But if you guys have any thoughts, feel free to say, I might even change them if you make one that better fits her than the one I came up with.**

**I haven't really explained Noctis' in full detail, but by now I'm sure everyone has an idea of what it is.**

**As for the Shakespeare quote, 'a rose by any other name' was originally gonna be the ending of this chapter, that's why I named the chapter after it, but as I began writing the team announcement next chapter, I felt it suited here better since I plan to go into actual character development next chapter, and I wanted the whole chapter to focus on that. Although don't count you horses just yet, whether I'll be able to succeed in my endeavour or not is yet to be decided. This is the first real time I've wrote anything, so while ambitious, I might not yet be up to skill when writing characters properly, they may even end up like the dreaded ooc.**

**Also as for why I used 'a rose by any other name' was to hopefully convey the absolute beauty of the scene, in the show every time I watch it I feel awestruck, it's a beautiful scene, even though the girl just absolutely murdered a giant bird, you can't help but feel mesmerised by the beauty of it, like a rose, it has harsh thorns, but it still holds a beauty that we love, I was trying to convey that when writing.**

**This is really just me dumping all my thoughts on the chapter, if you read all this, leave a review or something, I enjoy constructive criticism, I think, no one's really left any so that's still up for debate, kidding, I'll probably be fine, tbh, I'm only really writing this because I'm selfish and want to read a story that ticks all my boxes. And if it ticks a few of you guys' boxes as well, that's good too I guess. Seriously almost a full page of A/N. Hope you enjoyed.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**I'm just gonna say it before this starts.**

**WARNING! There will be very sad subjects talked about in this chapter.**

**Why am I putting my main character through such a sad past? I need him to have a certain personality, and this is the best way for it, or rather, not the best way, but the only way I can think of to have him act the way I want him to.**

**I did say I wanted this to have some character development, hopefully it works out.**

**Anyway, enjoy.**

Chapter 7

'I can't take it anymore

Without your father, what can I do'

"How about you go on ahead? Mommy will catch up

Do you know how to get to the station?

Is that so, then you can go ahead on your own and wait on your Mommy like a big boy, right?"

That was one of my earliest memories. Staying at a train station for hours, it was cold.

Mom must have gotten lost, right? It's already gotten dark; I'll head home and make sure she's ok.

"Did you hear?"

"Yeah, they say it was a lover's suicide."

"She wasn't murdered?"

"Apparently one of her clients came and found her."

"What about her kid? What will happen to him?"

"No one has found him."

Why were all these people in front of my house? No let me in, I need to check on Mommy!

Why are they inside taking photos?

Ah! What was that? Why is it cold.

"Hey, Kid, what are you doing in here!"

Mom….Mommy why are you... "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Why did this happen.

It was when my Dad never came home, that was why.

That morning Mom didn't want him to go to work, why was mining so dangerous?

When he left, why did Mom have so many new friends? Why was she always sad?

I wracked my brain so many times.

It all started when Dad left for work, the mines collapsed.

Why?

Why is everyone not liking the Dust company, it was their fault?

But why?

It WAS their fault.

They made him work in bad mines, so they must be bad!

Jacques Schnee. It was his fault.

I'll

I'll

I'LL…

"GOOD MORNING TEAM RRWBY!"

###

A peaceful morning, with the sun just beginning to rise, the birds chirping, a beautiful dawn for all members of a newly christened team at Beacon Academy as they all sleep soundly. Almost all.

ITRURURURURURURURURURURURU

As the newly appointed leader starts this peaceful morning with one helping of whistle blowing followed by an energetic shout,

"GOOD MORNING, TEAM RRWBY!"

And unlucky for some, namely a certain heiress both were right beside her ear, the sudden jolt to her waking body sending her flying off her mattress and onto the floor.

"What in the world was that for?"

As the two other girls in the group waste no time getting up and dressed, the only boy, in a still groggy state, notices the resident heiress' distress with a chuckle.

"You know, I've always hated alarm clocks; I tend to throw them out the window when they wake me up. How high up are we by the way?" His chuckle making him seem like he is joking, but his eyes seem rather serious to the perky teen; that must be because they just woke up, right?

"uhm… Ahem." Not actually coughing, but rather saying the word 'ahem', the team leader straightens herself out and continues, "Now that everyone's awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."

"And what's that?" The heiress crabbily asks as she picks herself off the floor.

"Decorating!"

"We still have to unpack."

The yellow and black duo respond, seeing as three of the five were already up, you couldn't help but wonder if this was the plan to single out these two and wake them up so annoyingly.

"And clean." Blake adds on after emptying her entire suitcase onto the floor.

"Well why didn't you say so!" Noctis quickly changes tune, endorsing the plan with a grin as he stands up fully on his bed, with one foot on the footboard like he is an adventurer braving new lands.

Unfortunately, that meant the bedclothes covering him no longer did so as he stood, standing fully bare as he was the day he was born.

"…!"

The four girls just stood wide eyed, as if they hadn't really processed it yet. It took him a second to realise why his teammates kept staring at him so much before he spotted a pair of joggers on the floor. In his sleep, he must have been so warm that he took them off without realising, it couldn't be helped he forgot.

"Hahah. Guys don't stare at me like that" He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, yet making no action to cover up. But rather jumping off the bed instead, causing a certain…something, to flop about with the motion.

"COVER YOURSELF, YOU BRUTE!"

It seemed that….action, finally allowed the girls to process what was happening.

"Wait a minute…" Walking over to his on suitcase beside his bed, he pulled out a towel after rummaging through it, standing up, he tied the newly acquired towel around his waist and finally covering himself up, looking up at the four.

Weiss had her fingers over her eyes, but for some reason none of the gaps actually covered her eyes as she continued to blushingly stare.

Ruby on the other hand had Yang's palm's covering her face, as she shouted to get them off and questioning what was happening; Yang's words saying how she was 'too young' just made her even more curious.

Speaking of Yang….she stared completely unreserved.

Blake however, covered her face with the book, but a mirror in the corner was perfectly angled to allow her to see him, but a mirror works both ways as he saw the deep blush on her face.

As he looked at his teammates, he continued with his ever-present grin, whispering a single word, yet it was loud enough for everyone to hear,

"Perverts."

"Ah…Get in the bathroom, you brute!"

"Yeah!"

As he was covered up, everyone began forcing him towards the ensuite bathroom the room came with.

"I get it, I get it!" He chuckled as he went as he went along, shutting the door behind him as a final shout resounded from the tomato faced heiress loud enough that it wouldn't be a surprise if other rooms heard.

"And don't come out until you're decent!"

"…."

"What were we…."

"That's right…weren't we going to?..."

"Me-ow" Yang purred as she gazed at the closed bathroom door before looking at the rest of her team in a daze, "Welp, let's get decorating."

Perhaps that was just what they needed to take their minds off it, it must have been a big task for them, but they managed.

###

"I don't like it." After getting showered and clothed in the surprisingly spacious bathroom, he came out to see the room even messier than it was when he left it; every bed, even his own, was stacked in the middle of the room like some bad modern art. At the very least he was thankful someone had made it for him while he showered.

"Finally clothed?"

"What can I say, it was hot and I took them off without realising."

"You can say that again." Yang responded with a 'Grrrr' as she eyed him, almost as if she was undressing him with her eyes.

"Liked what you saw, sunshine?" Noctis couldn't help but play along as he responded with a smirk, but the two were brought back to the situation at hand by the leader, perhaps she really was cut out for it, being able to do something so difficult her first day on the job; growing up with Yang as a sister probably helped.

"Focus, Team RRWBY has encountered its first obstacle, brainstorm!"

"How about ditching some of our stuff?"

"There's nothing I could live without."

"Me neither…."

"Oh, OH! I have an idea!" No one wanted to get rid of their stuff, they brought everything for a reason, but it was either that or the beds…. and just as this sad atmosphere of people thinking they had to get rid of something they treasured, the fearless leader hoped like an excited bunny as she gather everyone's attention.

"Bunk~Beds!"

"That sound's incredibly dangerous."

"….And super awesome!"

"It does seem efficient."

"Well we should put it to a vote."

"I think we just did." Noctis replied with a smirk as he gave a thumbs up, "Time for some DIY!"

And with that, the room descended into what can only be described as all out chaos.

Just outside the door, a student walking by heard the sound of chainsaw's, electric screwdrivers, and….was that a wrecking ball? It's safe to say they got out of there quicker than when they ran from a group of Manticore Grimm during a field trip to Anima in their first year.

"Ah…finished."

"They're beautiful."

"Too bad there's an odd number in the team, Noctis' had to be put back."

"Don't worry Noctis! If you want, I have a really good idea of putting it…." Ruby, being the team player she is, genuinely felt sorry for leaving a member out, but as she began going off on a tangeant on all her plans to include him, wait did she say something about a loft bed? Well it didn't really matter as she was stopped in the middle of plan number 3.

"It's fine Red." He chuckled as he replied, inadvertendly placing a head on top her head as he lent down to eye level with a grin. "With two bunkbeds, the room has enough space freed up and anyway." With a thumb over his shoulder he gestures behind him, "With how unstable they are, I'd be surprised they lasted the night."

What he said had some merit, as Ruby's bed above Weiss' hung from ropes hanging from the ceiling while Yang's was on top of Blake's bed using books.

"We'll see about that!" With a smile seeing he wasn't disheartened by missing out, she cheerfully protested, hoping onto her bed making it sway in the air, but it still stood strong, and with renowned vigour, she announced, "Now onto our second order of business, classes! Let's see…." Panning through a book she had beside her, she found the team's class schedule, "At 9 we have…."

"WHAT!" Weiss doesn't seem to like the word 'we', "Did you say 9 o'clock?" Ah, it was 9 she didn't like.

"Uhm….yeah?"

"It's 8:55 you dunce! We are going to be late on the first day of school!" And with that, the white haired Ice Queen exited the room in a dash.

"Uhm…" Peaking their heads out the door and unknowingly looking like a stack of heads similar to a totem pole, the team saw another set of familiar faces do the same, team JNIPR. "Team RRWBY, to class!"

"Did she say class?" As the rest of Team RRWBY rushed to catch up to Weiss, the row of heads on the door frame across the hall stumbled, falling into the hallway. The leader, having just realised what Ruby said, quickly followed, "We're going to be late!"


End file.
